Green’s Blast Clinches Series for Rice

Saturday, May 9

Greenville, NC

3:05 PM

Rice University

31-20, 13-10

East Carolina

29-2-11, 13-10

Team	1	2	3	4	5	6	7	8	9	Runs R	Hits H	Errors E
Rice	0	2	0	0	0	0	3	0	0	5	5	1
East Carolina	0	0	0	2	0	0	1	0	0	3	7	0

5/9/2026 9:00:00 PM | Baseball

Box Score

Owls look for sweep at 12:05 on Sunday

By: Chuck Pool (cpool@rice.edu)

Greenville, NC- Cole Green broke a 2-2 with a two-out, three-run homer in the seventh inning and Ty Thames snuffed out East Carolina's last charge as Rice took a 5-3 decision at Clark-LeClair Stadium on Saturday and clinch the weekend series.

How it Happened: In a pitching dual between Rice freshman standout Ethan Sanders and American Conference Preseason Pitch of the Year Ethan Norby, all the runs in the game were generated by four swings of the bat. Rice took an early 2-0 lead on a two-run homer by JC Davis. ECU tied it on a two-run homer by Michael Kalinich in the fourth. After Green's blast put the Owls ahead 5-2 and ended Norby's night, the Pirates cut the margin to 5-3 on a solo home by Walker Barron in the bottom of the seventh. Thames took over for Sanders in the eighth and gave up a pair of singles before slamming the door on the threat with a pair of fly outs. In the ninth, he worked around a two-out walk to complete his sixth save of the season. Sanders won his third consecutive start to even his record at 5-5 overall and 4-3 in the conference.
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Next Up: Rice will look to sweep a series with East Carolina for the first time in Greenville since 2007 when the teams meet in the finale at 12:05 (central) on Sunday.

Notes

The Owls won their sixth straight game to improve to 31-20 on the season, and 13-10 in the American.
Rice won a season series against East Carolina for the first time as members of the American… The Owls last won a series over ECU in a non-conference meeting in 2016 and last won a series in Greenville in 2013.
Rice moved into a tie for second in the conference standings with ECU and UAB, but the Owls hold the tiebreaker over both teams.
Rice now holds tiebreakers over ECU, UAB, FAU and Charlotte.
The Owls have won five straight in the conference facing teams with RPI's of 39 (UAB) and 42 (ECU) entering the series.
The 13 wins in the conference are the most for Rice in its three seasons in the American.
The Owls improved to 13-9 on the road this season, the best mark in the American.
Rice is 7-4 on the road in the American this year after finishing 4-11 last year and 4-8 in 2024.
Rice reached 31 wins in the regular season for the first time since it ended the regular season in 2016, 32-20.
The 14-game improvement the Owls have posted over their final 2025 record is the largest improvement at Rice since David Hall led a 20-game improvement from 14 wins in 1980 to 34 in 1981.
The 14-game improvement is tied for second nationally… Norfolk State leads at +15, while Longwood and Fairleigh Dickinson are also +14.
The six-game winning streak matches the longest for the Owls this season.
The two home runs by the Owls gave them 13 in their last five games. They had not hit one in their previous six games and had hit six in the month of April.
Rice pitchers have posted a 4.59 ERA this season, a drop of over two runs per game from 2025 (6.71).
Thames has saved three of the last four of Sanders wins.
Sanders 75.1 innings pitched this season lead the American Conference and are the most by a Rice freshman since Matt Canterino worked 96.0 in in 2017.
Davis has driven in 15 runs in his last six games while hitting .478 (11x23).
Zachary Daigre extending his career-best hitting streak to nine games (.483/14x29), the longest by an Owl this year.